Theater group presents show to fight hunger

A group of Pittsburg State University current and former theater students are using their talents onstage to raise money for a local charity.

The students, branded as The Starving Artists, will perform “Gate 23,” an original structured improvisational show, at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 25 and 26. The show will be held in the Grubbs Hall Theater on the campus of PSU. Tickets are $1 each, and proceeds will go to the food pantry at the Wesley House. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

Lucy Miller-Downing, one of the show’s creators, said the idea to put on a play to fight hunger came to her last year when she was researching online and came across a Web site on the problem. “It really bothered me when I read that 30,000 people die each day of hunger,” said the senior communication major. “I wanted to do something to help people and I thought about what my friends and I are good at. You have to use what you have in order to make a difference.”

Miller-Downing consulted with communication graduate student Todd Hoover, and with a handful of other actors they wrote “Gate 23.” Titled after a gate at an airport, the show consists of multiple scenarios between groups of people. Although the scenarios are the same both evenings, the improv nature of the show means the actors and dialogue in the scenes will be different each evening.

“It’s been wonderful to collaborate so nicely with one another for such a great project,” Miller-Downing said. “We all feel like we have an investment in this.”

In addition to Miller-Downing and Hoover, the cast and crew also includes Roy Hatcher, Angella Curran, Austin Laverty, Diedre Galloway, Ross Stone, Chelsea Smith, Michelle Rhoades, Katie Farrell, Valerie Schmitz, and Dr. Cynthia Allan.

For more information, email starvingartists@live.com.

---Pitt State---